Major Extract Brands by Country of Origin by Drew Beechum

Every extract brand affects the aroma and flavor of your beer differently, The primary factor in your extract decision is country of origin. Since manufacturers produce extract with local malts, consider an extract from the same region as your target style.

This list of major extract brands is ordered by country. For each country, possible ingredients are listed. Due to manufacturers' secrecy, the ingredients lists are speculation in them.

EXTRACTS

Country: American

General Notes: Made from North American two-row or six-row barley. Designed for fermentability since brewers no longer use large infusions of sugar.

Brand: Alexander's Sun Country
Types: Liquid
Notes: Designed by the famous brewing scientist Dr. Michael Lewis of UC Davis. Good fermentability. Uses Klages-style two-row for a neutral clean taste.

General Notes: Bastion of “Kit & Kilo” brewers, recently Australia's homebrewing community took off like a rocket. Their brewers are flaunting the “rules” of brewing and producing a good jug of beer. Extracts are from two-row varieties like Franklin, Harrington, Schooner, or Stirling.

Brand: Coopers
Types: Liquid
Notes: Unlike other extract manufacturers, Coopers is an active brewery (Cooper's Sparkling Ale) and some of their kits replicate their commercial product.

Brand: Morgan's
Types: Liquid
Notes: Developed for export from Australia to America, Morgan's is less commonly available than Coopers. Morgan's specifies the basic recipe for each of their extracts.

Country: German

General Notes: You can trust the Germans to ensure the quality their beer ingredients. Made from German pilsner malt, they bring a grassy, toasty, “Continental” graininess to your brews.

Brand: Bierkeller
Types: Liquid
Notes: The most widely available German malt extract. Comes in several hues built on a base of lager and Munich malts.

Brand: Ireks
Types: Liquid
Notes: A major malt manufacturer supplying bakers and brewers around the world. Sadly, their 100-percent wheat extract is lost to homebrewers.

Brand: Weyermann
Types: Liquid
Notes: Major German maltster. When looking to make German styles, reach for Weyermann. Most of their syrups are decocted to replicate traditional German processes.

Country: United Kingdom

General Notes: British beers start with the classic malt base, like Maris Otter or Golden Promise. Their fresh-baked biscuit quality is not found in American malts. Check the ingredients for any sugar.

Brand: BrewMart
Types: Liquid
Notes: A Scottish line of extract kits that focus on “lagers of the world.”

Brand: EDME
Types: Dry/Liquid
Notes: Founded in the 1880s, EDME (English Diastatic Malt Extract Company) is a sister company to maltser Crisp. The gem of the company lineup is the EDME Diastatic Malt Extract (DMS). Grains steeped with that extract will convert to sugar like they were mashed.

Brand: John Bull
Types: Liquid
Notes: Ubiquitous brand of extract kits. Reportedly discontinued by EDME so be warned that this will be older extract and therefore stale.

Brand: Iron Master
Types: Liquid
Notes: Scottish company focused on hopped extract kits for the casual brewer. Includes a kit for making an “American Light”

Brand: Munton & Fison
Types: Dry/Liquid
Notes: Of the British extracts, M&F ferments the most completely. Widely available in both liquid and dry, the dry malt finishes lower than the liquid. The extra light reportedly uses sugar or other additives to ferment down.